A statistically significant increase in
the incidence of malignant tumors, lymphomas and leukemias in rats exposed
to varying doses of aspartame appears to link the artificial sweetener to
a high carcinogenicity rate, according to a study accepted for publication
today by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).
The authors of the study, the first to demonstrate multipotential carcinogenic
effects of aspartame administered to rats in feed, called for an “urgent
reevaluation” of the current guidelines for the use and consumption
of this compound.

“Our study has shown that aspartame is a multipotential
carcinogenic compound whose carcinogenic effects are also evident at a daily
dose of 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg), notably less
than the current acceptable daily intake for humans,” the authors
write. Currently, the acceptable daily intake for humans is set at 50 mg/kg
in the United States and 40 mg/kg in Europe.

Aspartame is the second most widely used artificial
sweetener in the world. It is found in more than 6,000 products including
carbonated and powdered soft drinks, hot chocolate, chewing gum, candy,
desserts, yogurt, and tabletop sweeteners, as well as some pharmaceutical
products like vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. More than 200 million
people worldwide consume it. The sweetener has been used for more than 30
years, having first been approved by the FDA in 1974. Studies of the carcinogenicity
of aspartame performed by its producers have been negative.

Researchers administered aspartame to Sprague-Dawley
rats by adding it to a standard diet. They began studying the rats at 8
weeks of age and continued until the spontaneous death of each rat. Treatment
groups received feed that contained concentrations of aspartame at dosages
simulating human daily intakes of 5,000, 2,500, 500, 100, 20, and 4 mg/kg
body weight. Groups consisted of 100 males and 100 females at each of the
three highest dosages and 150 males and 150 females at all lower dosages
and controls.

The experiment ended after the death of the last animal
at 159 weeks. At spontaneous death, each animal underwent examination for
microscopic changes in all organs and tissues, a process different from
the aspartame studies conducted 30 years ago and one that was designed to
allow aspartame to fully express any carcinogenic potential.

The treated animals showed extensive evidence of malignant
cancers including lymphomas, leukemias, and tumors at multiple organ sites
in both males and females. The authors speculate the increase in lymphomas
and leukemias may be related to one of the metabolites in aspartame, namely
methanol, which is metabolized in both rats and humans to formaldehyde.
Both methanol and formaldehyde have shown links to lymphomas and leukemias
in other long-term experiments by the same authors.

The current study included more animals over a longer
period than earlier studies. “In our opinion, previous studies did
not comply with today’s basic requirements for testing the carcinogenic
potential of a physical or chemical agent, in particular concerning the
number of rodents for each experimental group (40-86, compared to 100-150
in the current study) and the termination of previous studies at only 110
weeks of age of the animals,” the study authors wrote.

The authors of the study were Morando Soffritti, Fiorella
Belpoggi, Davide Degli Esposti, Luca Lambertini, Eva Tibaldi, and Anna Rigano
of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center, European Ramazzini Foundation
of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. Funding for the
research was provided by the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and
Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy.

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